Rail-joint.



w. c. AVIS.

RAIL JOlNT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 23. I911. 1,270,768. Patented July 2,1918.

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A TORNE WITNESS,

- To all whom it, ma

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. AVIS, OF NORTH KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-FOURTH TO CHARLES E. SCHOOLIN G AND ONE-FOURTH TO EDWARD RAYMOND BELL, BOTH OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

RAIL-J OIN T.

Patented July 2, 1918.

Application filed November 23, 1917. Serial No. 203,536.

concern:

Be it known t at I, WILLIAM C. Avis, a citizen of the United States, residing at North Kansas City, in the county of Clay, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a full and exact specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in rail-joint construction, and aims to devise a joint adapted to provide a substantially even and continuous tread surface throughout the length of the joint. To this end. I provide a joint having the ball portions of the rail ends overlapped by cutting the balls diagonally at an angle to the webs of the rails, leaving the Webs entire and bolting them together the full length of the joint. By means of the present construction I also aim to provide a joint serving to hold the rails securely in proper alinement, this being accomplished by so cutting away and matching the ball and base flange portions of the rail ends that the web of each rail end is engaged by portions of the ball and base flange of the other rail end and thereby locked against vertical displacement.

further feature of improvement will be found inthe construction and manner of mounting the fish plates for abutting against the webs of the rail end portions and for retaining said plates in proper fixed position.

illustrating one form of construction which has been devised for embodying the same,

' after which the novel features will be set forth and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail joint constructed in accordance with the present invention; 7 a

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fi s. 3 and 4 are enlar ed transverse sectiona views taken on t e lines 33 and 44, respectively of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view of one of the rail end portions;

Figs. 6 and 7 are views, on a reduced scale, in plan and sideelevation, respectively, of a rail showing only its end portions and the manner of cutting away said end portions as required by the present improvements; and

Fig. 8 is a plan view of two rail ends assembled ready for attachment of the fishplates. I

Referring to the drawing in detail, this illustrates two rails 10, each of which has the ball 12 of its end portion cut away along a line 14 extending diagonally at an angle to the web 16 of the rail and partly across said web so as'to ex ose a portion of the upper edge of the web (see particularly Figs. 3 and 7). Each rail also has the base flange 18 of its end portion cut away along a line 20 parallel to the line 14, thereby exposing a portion of the lower edge of the web 16 opposite the exposed portion of its upper edge (see Fig. 5). By cutting away the ball and base flange along the lines 14 and 20, respectively, this also leaves the ball and flange of each rail end, at what may be termed the inner end of its cut away portion, pro ecting sufficiently to engage the upper and lower exposed edges of the web of the other rail end, and thus in efl'ect pocketing these ortions of the webs and serving to lock tie rail ends a ainst any tendency to relative vertical displacement. At the inner end of each cut away portion the ball of each rail is provided with a shoulder 22 adapted to abut a ainst the ball terminal of the other rail (see ig. 8), and the base flange of each rail is formed witha similar shoulder 24 of the other rail when the parts are assem bled in joint relation, this construction tending further to stiffen the parts of the joint and prevent any relative movement thereof.

The ends'of the rail as thus constructed are secured together by means of fish plates 26 and 28 fastened by means of a series of bolts 30 to the opposite faces of the rail ends. When secured in this relation the web portions of the rail ends will extend at a sli ht angle with reference to the longitudinal line of the rails as shown in Fig. 2, and since the webs are left entire and extend side by side throughout the overlapped ends of the rails it is apparent that this affords double supporting strength to the joint. The fish plate 26 is provided with a horizontal plate portion 32 extending beneath the rail ends and resting on the ties 34. and the free margin of said plate portion 32 is formed with an upwardly inclined supporting surface 36. presented in'abutting relation to the similarly inclined lower edge surface of the fish plate 28 (see Figs. 3 and 4), this arrangement assisting in preventing any outward sliding movement of the late 28 under pressure from above. Each of the fish plates 26 and 28 is also provided at one of its ends with inwardly projecting lug formations 38 (see Figs. 1 and 4) extending into engagement with the rail fillets and also abutting against the end of the corresponding web 16.

It will thus be apparent that a simple and efficient arrangement and construction have been devised for carrying out the desired objects of the invention. With the rail webs left entire throughout the overlapping ends of the rails a double-strength joint is obtained, and'bvi'neans of the pocketing formation whereby each rail embraces a portion of the web of the other rail, the ends of the rail are locked against any tendency to relative vertical movement, and the parts are securely held in this relation by' the described bolt and fish plate construction. A continuous smooth tread surface is thus provided throughout the length of the joint for the purpose of eliminating as much 'as possible all jolts and jarring due to-gapping or uneven joints which are so ruinous to both the rails and the rolling stock and so undesirable for numerous other reasons.

While the foregoing represents what is regarded as the preferred form of embodiment of theimprovements, the right is reserved to such formal changes as may fairly fall within the scope ,of the claims appended,

hereto.

What I claim is:

1. A rail joint comprising rail end portions having their base flanges cut away on opposite sides and thewebs of said end portions left entire and arranged in overlapping relation, the ball of each of said rail end portions being cut, away-diagonally at an angle to the plane of the web and partly across the same, thereby exposing a portion of the top of the web'of each rail end portion and bringing it into engagement with an overlying portion of the cut away side of the ball of the other rail end portion.

2. A rail-joint comprising rail end portions having the webs thereof left entire and the webs and balls of said end portions arranged in overlapping relation, the base flanges of said rail end portions being each cut entirely through by a single diagonal-cut extending at an angle to the plane of the web and partly across the same and terminating at the end of the corresponding rail end portion thereby exposing a portion of the lower ed ge of the web of each end portion for bringing it into engagement with an underlying portion of the cut away side of the flange of the other rail end portion and leaving each web with a supporting flange extending at one side thereof throughout the length ofthe Web.

3. A rail-joint comprising rail end portions having the webs thereof left entire and arranged in overlapping relation, the balls and base flanges of said end portions being v away sides of the ball and base flange of the other rail end portion and leaving'each web with a supporting flange extending at one side thereof throughout the. length of the web.

4. A rail joint comprising rail end portions having the webs thereof arranged in overlapping relation, the balls and base flanges of said end portions being cutaway diagonally at an angle to the planesof the webs and partly across the same, thereby exposing portions of the upper and lower edges of the webs and bringing said exposed portions of each web into engagement be tween portions of the cut away sides of the ball and base flange of the other rail end portion, and fish plates secured to the opposite faces of the joint and provided with inturned portions in engagement with the fillets of the rails and abutting against the ends of said webs. 1 I

5. A rail joint comprising rail end portions having the webs thereof arranged in overlapping relation, the balls and base flanges of said end portions being cut away diagonall at an angle to the planes of said webs an partly across the same, thereby exposing portions of the upper and lower edges of the .webs and bringing said exposed portions of each web into engagement between portions of, the put away sides of the ball and base flange of the other rail end portion, and fish plates secured to the op'posite faces of the joint and provided with in; turned portions engaging the fillets of the rail and abutting against the ends of said webs, one of said fish plates having a horizontal plate portion extending across beneath the rail joint and provided withan upwardly inclined margin in abutting relation with the bottom edge of the other fish plate.

In testimony whereofI afiix my signature.

WILLIAM G. AVIS. 

